It's a Celebration Sensation!

School trumps sports cards... especially at the start of the school year.  There just aren't enough hours in the day.  So if you see a blog post published here during the work week, there's a pretty good chance I wrote the post over the weekend and scheduled it.

Not this one.  Today we're celebrating a special occasion.  It's Chris The Collector's 10th Anniversary... which he celebrated by busting open boxes and building special gift packages for supporters of his blog.  I was fortunate to be one of the recipients.

The padded envelope he sent included several team bags stuffed with cards and packs.  It took me just under two hours to sort and scan, so without further ado...

Let's start things off with a nice stack of A's cards:

He was able to get his hands on some popular products like Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary.

As you can see, he sent me singles from each of the first three sets in the product line.  As much as I love these cards, the Rickey Henderson 1955 Rails and Sails insert is my favorite card in the lot.

2010 Sportkings Series D #180

I was also excited to see this uncirculated Gwynn card.  Technically I already own this card, but this particular copy is still in the original top loader pulled from the pack.  In other words... I'm considering this to be a variation and keeping it.

He also sent me some nice shiny cards for my two favorite football team collections:

Plus four San Jose Sharks:

Thornton, Pavelski, Couture, and Burns are 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th on the Sharks all-time points leader board.  Anyone know who's #1?

He also sent me a four pack of Japanese baseball players, including the very popular Munetaka Murakami:

I don't write about them often, but for decades the Los Angeles Lakers were my favorite basketball team.  This guy was a big reason I became a fan:

1981-82 Topps #20

Kareem would go on to play eight more seasons with the Lakers and score over 12,000 more points than depicted on the back of this trading card:

This is arguably the coolest card in his anniversary package.  It's kind of hard to see, but this card has a wax stain on the front.  Back in the 80's, I would have been bummed to pull this card out of a pack.  Four decades later, I consider it to be an under-appreciated parallel.

Speaking of parallels, check out this color-matched Elway for my Stanford PC:

2024 Prizm Draft Picks Ruby Wave #37

And here's my latest addition to my Ray Lewis PC:

2025 Donruss Optic Light It Up #17

He also tossed in a pair of Joe Montana cards:

2009 Topps National Chicle Mini #C46

2024 Topps Chrome 1974 Refractor #74TF-18

These may or may not have been intended for my students, but both went into the Montana section of my hall of fame binder.

Rounding out the gift package were three unopened packs.  The first two will be added to my rainy day pack stash:

1991 Stadium Club 2nd Series Pack

2025 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary Hobby Pack

Back in 1991, this Stadium Club pack would have been a very hot commodity... as collectors were ripping into them in hopes of pulling Jeff Bagwell or Phil Plantier rookie cards.  Today... the 2025 Chrome Platinum Anniversary is the much hotter product.

Chris also included this 1986 Topps rack pack:

1986 Topps Rack Pack

It may seem like just a random pack, but he sent this specific pack to help me get one step closer to completing my 1986 Topps Glossy All-Star set:

Okay... technically I haven't opened it up.  Like I stated earlier in the post... my free time during the week is limited.  But don't worry... I'm going to tear into this pack on Sunday and when I do... I'll show off the highlights.

And after reading Jim's post this morning, I realized that I accidentally left out some left-handed pitchers.  Sorry about that Chris.  Don't have time to scan them before getting ready for work, so I'll show them off on Sunday with the Garvey.

Until then...

Happy anniversary Chris!  And thank you for this very generous giveaway.  Although I think it's sad that you made the decision to retire from collecting cards at the end of the year... I understand that we all must make big decisions that are best for ourselves and our families.  I'm glad that you plan on keeping your blog alive... as I always look forward to reading the different series you written.

Happy Friday and sayonara!

A Sweaty Sunday Sort

It's hot here.  Too hot.  The kind of heat that makes me skip the farmer's market and grocery shopping.  That means more time to clean the house and sort some cards.

Today I targeted three packages Rod over at Padrographs sent me back at the start of summer.  I thought it was gonna take me a few weeks to get to them, but it ended up taking a few months.

There's obviously way too much to cover in a single post, so I decided to focus on what he's best known for: autographs.

Let's start with some familiar names...

2011 Topps #178

It's been over a decade since Bell sprinted onto the field at Petco, but I'm guessing most Padres fans can picture it in their head.

Let's take a trip back to the 80's...

1985 Mother's Cookies Padres #1

Dick Williams was the manager of the Padres when I started rooting for them during the 1984 World Series.

1985 Fleer #30

If you followed baseball back in the 80's, then you're familiar with Dravecky's story.  If not and you're interested, click here.

What you might not know is that his signature changed after he had his left arm amputated.  If you ever see a signed ball, photo, or card of his with his first and last name on the same line, then it was before his surgery.  These days, he's signs his last name below his first.

1990 Donruss #302

Did you know that Mark Davis is one of five pitchers to win a Cy Young Award while representing the Padres?  He was also part of the trade that sent Dravecky to the San Francisco Giants.

I wish I could write about all of the autographs that Rod sent my way, but it's getting late and I really want to publish this post tonight.  But feel free to check them out... and offer any comments on any of these guys down below:

Not all of the autographs from Rod were of the TTM or IP variety.  Here are the pack pulled autographs:

2013 Leaf Perfect Game Showcase Jersey Auto #JA-JN1

When I saw this card, his name sounded familiar.  Then I looked him up and was reminded of the time he broke into someone's house, got kicked in the face, and tasered.  On the brighter side, he's still playing pro ball in Mexico.

2013 Bowman DP&P Autographs #BCA-HR

2020 Bowman Platinum Top Prospects Auto #TOP-59

2022 Prizm Draft Picks Signing Sessions #SS-DM

Rod went big and sent me this really cool Topps buyback autograph of Goose Gossage:

2024 Topps Archives Signature Series (1987 Topps #380)

This is only my second Gossage autograph featuring him with the Padres... and my first with him signing across his face.  I was very surprised to see this card slide out of the small flat rate shipping box.

But I was even more surprised to see this framed and matted signature:

Yup.  That's a cut signature of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar... one of the greatest basketball players of all-time.  When I turned it over and saw it, I was left speechless.

He also sent me an autograph of this lesser known Laker:

2012-13 Absolute Rookie Auto #182

Not gonna lie.  I've never heard of Mr. Johnson-Odom.  But he does share the last names of two famous and popular Lakers legends:  Magic Johnson and Lamar Odom.

Let's wrap things up with the final two autographs he sent me...

1991-92 Score Canadian Bilingual #554

Brian Hayward was one of the Minnesota North Stars players chosen by the Sharks as part of the special dispersal draft in 1991.  He's credited as being the goalie in the first win in franchise history. 

A few years ago Rod sent me a relic card from Harmon's NCIS days.  It was one of my mom's favorite television shows.  And now I have an autograph to go with it.

If you're wondering why he's featured as a quarterback for UCLA, that's because he was their starting quarterback in 1972 and 1973.  The thing I mainly remember him for is his role in Summer School.

Obviously there's a lot of other stuff I need to cover in regards to Rod's care packages, but it's already Monday in some parts of the country, so I'm going to wrap this up here.

Thank you Rod!  And thank goodness the temperature has finally dropped into the 70's.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Summer Goals

It's been a few years since I have sat down and hammered out some hobby goals.  But since I won't be teaching this summer, I wanted to get three hobby related things accomplished before the start of the 2026-27 school year.

#1:  Target a handful of set builds.

Whether or not I actually complete any sets this summer, I want to at least make the effort to cross as many numbers off of my set needs as I can.

#2:  Inventory my collection.

Two to three times a decade, I like to go through my collection and update my inventory.  This project will wreak havoc on my back, but when I'm finished... I have a better understanding of what I've been hoarding the past few decades or so.

#3:  Clean up my office and catch up on blogging.

I have stacks of cards all over my office.  Some are sitting on my desk.  Others are laying in 5,000ct. boxes.  Plus I have unopened mailers dating back months.  The goal is to sort, scan, and blog as much as I can over the next two months.  Sundays will be reserved for farmer's markets, laundry, cleaning, and sorting.

Being the first Sunday of my summer break, I'm going to hammer out this sorting tray filled with the remaining cards from Reader X's January care package.

Let's start with some baseball players I collect:

Next up here are some PC additions for my favorite team collections:

Xavier always sends some San Francisco Giants, San Francisco 49ers, Las Vegas Raiders, and Golden State Warriors for my students:

Plus he tossed in some San Jose Sharks and a few other hockey cards:

I'm honestly not familiar with any of these guys, but the three Las Vegas Knights autographs are dedicated to my mother who rooted for them in their inaugural season.

Xavier also tossed in some football stars, rookies, and inserts:

Most of these will eventually be passed along to one of my students, but I did end up holding onto the Select rookie card of Caleb Williams.  

Thank you Xavier for another generous care package.  Sorry it took me six months to document it on here.

And thank you to everyone who took the time to read this post as I document the first Sunday Sort of The Summer of 2026.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!